A full plate: USDA's new nutrition image is less confusing than the old pyramid.

HOUSTON CHRONICLE

Updated 5:30 am, Sunday, June 12, 2011

So the Agriculture Department is replacing its familiar food pyramid with an image called MyPlate to help educate Americans about the basics of good nutrition.

Smart move, we'd say. Evidently, the pyramid, which showed food groups in color-coded bands to assist consumers in gauging healthy proportions, was confusing to too many folks. That's not good.

We like the straightforward clarity of the plate. Even in this era of eat and run, most folks still encounter a plate at mealtime, at least occasionally. We're betting they readily recognize the images of portion sizes for fruits, vegetables and what was once called meat but which the USDA now calls protein (to include seafood and tofu), when they're positioned proportionately on the image of a circular plate.

The country's problems with obesity are growing by the minute and the expanding inch, so the timing of this change couldn't be better — or more critically important.

When it comes to nutrition education, especially for the young, there is no room - or good reason - for confusion. The pressures to eat poorly are ever-present - from supersized fast-food meals to jumbo soft drinks saturated with sugar. These temptations are causing our young to pack on the pounds in ways that are, literally, life-threatening.

Which is why we're puzzled by the objections to the USDA's change voiced by some Republicans in Congress who see a Big Brotherly intrusion in the new campaign. They accuse the Obama administration of reaching too far in this campaign trying to persuade Americans to eat healthier, which includes new rules dictating to schools what foods can be served on campus.

Surely this objection is outweighed - literally and figuratively -by the burdens placed on the nation's health care system by the alarming rise in obesity among young people. This has meant an upsurge of Type 2 diabetes among the young, as well as other complications such as high blood pressure.

If these trends are not dealt with sooner rather than later, their impact will be budget busting in a time when the federal budget is already tapped out.

Doesn't this justify the creation of a more effective program designed to help young and old alike make better nutrition choices?